When teaching "no" or giving other commands, do not shout. Shouting teaches pup he does not have to respond to, or obey, commands until they are shouted.

Do not give pup commands that you do not intend to enforce. Also, do not repeat commands multiple times until pup performs. That teaches pup he can perform the command when HE feels like doing so.

Do not wait until you have given a command several times before you enforce it. Give the command once, then make pup comply. Your dog will learn what to expect, and he will comply reliably upon hearing the first command.

Also, it is imperative to go to pup to punish him--never call pup and have pup come, and then punish him. Pup will quickly learn to not respond to "Come" or "Here" if he associates these commands with punishment.

Do not allow pup to behave inconsistently. Pup is not smart enough to understand the difference between your outdoor clothes and your dress clothes. If pup is allowed to jump up on you when you are wearing your jeans, he will certainly think the same behavior is appropriate when you are in your best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.

Never allow pup to jump on you or anyone else. Ditto with getting on the furniture, begging at the dinner table, entering prohibited rooms, etc. Consistently enforcing all rules is one of the most important tenants of gun dog training.

Do not jabber endlessly to pup. Remember the episode of the old Seinfeld television series about meaningless talk? They referred to it as, "yada, yada, yada." And that is just what it meant--nothing.

Talking to your dogs should consist basically of his command words: hup (sit), stay, come, heel, no, fetch, over, back and good boy. That is plenty of words for a dog. After all, my dogs read my body language and mood better than a wife of 35 years--they don't need a sermon to catch my drift.

When you give pup a pat on the head for doing well and say "good boy," he darned well knows you are happy with him; you need not go overboard. When you repeatedly lay it on too thick, you condition pup to ignore much of what you're saying.

Do not be in a rush to expose pup to gunfire. Take your time, and introduce him to gunfire gradually, and in the correct way.

Training pup is not a race. It should not be an ego trip, either. People, men especially, invest too much of their ego and pride in how their gun dog performs.

Get over it. I don't care how good your dog is; I guarantee we could go over a hill and around the corner and find a gun dog just as good as our best. There is nothing wrong with that.

The point of having a gun dog is to have a hunting partner that helps you find birds and retrieve birds if you do your part by shooting those he flushes.

We love our dogs, and yes, we take pride in them. But enjoy your pup, and do not always expect him to be the best dog in the world.

Hunt together, have fun together and grow old together. It's a pretty good deal.